May God be gracious to us make His face shine down;
May God be gracious to us and make His ways known.
(lyrics to a song by aaron strumpel)
This is my last night in Lepsa, Romania (Aug. 14) and tomorrow I head back to Galati.
Camp with the children was wonderful! Really, I can't thank you enough for your prayers during that time. We had some rainy weather, but it didn't seem to damper our spirits at all. The camp facility this year was great and big enough for space to play indoors even when it rained. But more than adequate space was the blessing of having adequate staff. Since this is the only week of camp we held this year, almost all of our Romanian and American staff attended. That means that we had a 1 / 2 ratio of staff to children. We played hard, ate well, worshipped together, and talked about important issues concerning identity, growth and who God has created us to be. It was a wonderful time and I anticipate much fruit from the seeds that were planted during the week.
Today is the second day of my worship team retreat at the same camp facility in the mountains. Here again, in the same place but with a different group of people, I have sensed the anointing of the Holy Spirit over our time. Today we had some hard talks about commitment and frustrations with each other. But that was followed by a time of splitting into four groups for composing music. This time together in small groups using our gifts really seemed to inspire us and draw us closer as a team. Pray that God will continue to inspire and equip us for serving the church in Galati and that many will come to know Christ simply by being drawn into worship of Him.
My time in the States this summer was also wonderful. I enjoyed lots of quality time with my family and got to know my niece, Kayley, who is a sweetheart.
As I return to Galati tomorrow and think about the coming weeks, I would ask you to pray for two things for me personally. The first is that God would provide a stable living situation so that I would not have to move again for at least another year. Things with my current host family have been great, but it seems that I need to find another place to live. I'm not worried because God has always provided in this area, but I do need wisdom in knowing which is the right living situation to choose, hopefully something that will offer more stability than I had this past year.
Second, please pray for me as I continue to seek God's direction in our street ministry. It seems clear that this is a season of change, and God is leading us to begin spending time building relationships with some younger children, many of them girls, in a neighborhood closer to our Community Center. As I reach out and spend time getting to know more children, I will probably need to pull back in some other relationships, so please pray for wisdom in knowing how, when and who to keep in contact with.
Thanks again for your love and prayers and support that sustain me. This has been a wonderful summer, full of travel and reunions and tearful goodbyes and hellos and new horizons. I'm looking forward to returning to Galati tomorrow and developing somewhat of a normal routine again. Hopefully by the time you read this I'll have a place to live and be back into a rhythm of life in Galati.
Peace to each one,
Rachel